By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Israeli special forces captured a Hamas militant leader in a raid in Gaza City on Tuesday while Israeli air strikes meant to protect those troops killed four Palestinians, authorities said.
Israel's military said in a statement that special forces from the Shin Bet intelligence agency captured Hamas' internal security service chief in a joint operation with the military in a Hamas-controlled area of Gaza City.
Hours after the raid, the Hamas-run Gaza interior
ministry said that a Hamas officer, Moin Al-Arabeed, was injured and captured by Israel while his wife was killed and some of his children were injured. While Hamas did not identify his role, Al-Arabeed is known to be a powerful member of the group's security service.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Shin Bet and the military for what he described as a daring operation. He said the Hamas leader was responsible for concealing and transporting Israeli hostages captured in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Like the military statement, Netanyahu did not name the Hamas leader. The military said the Hamas militant had been taken into Israel for questioning by Israel's security forces.
During the operation, the Israeli air force carried out strikes "to remove threats" on the ground, the military said, adding that no soldiers were injured.
Witnesses said Israeli warplanes fired at least 12 missiles near the Katiba area in the west of Gaza City, an area crowded with displaced families who were forced to leave.
At least four people including two children were killed and several others wounded, medics said.
Elsewhere, two more Palestinian deaths were recorded, bringing the death toll on Tuesday to six. These were a child killed by Israeli fire in central Gaza and a member of the civil defence service killed in an Israeli strike on Jabalia, north of Gaza City, health officials said.
CEASEFIRE HAS NOT STOPPED STRIKES
A U.S.-backed ceasefire that took effect in October 2025 halted large-scale fighting that had devastated the enclave, but it has not ended Israeli strikes. Israel says such operations are intended to prevent attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups, and it accuses Hamas of trying to re-establish itself in Gaza, most of which is occupied by Israel's military.
Hamas says Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire and undermined efforts to advance a broader plan by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the war. The plan includes Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas said it contacted mediators and Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, and called on them to exert pressure on Israel, warning that Israeli attacks were undermining the ceasefire agreement.
More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire came into force in October 2025, according to Gaza health officials. The Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks during the same period.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Lina Obeid and Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem;Editing by Ros Russell and Cynthia Osterman)
